St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: Foundress of U.S. Catholic schools

(Images of original art courtesy of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Kenner)

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was born in New York City in 1774. In 1803, she traveled to Italy with her husband as a wealthy and well-educated Episcopalian, but returned to the United States less than a year later as a widow and Catholic convert.

Although Elizabeth was a serious Episcopalian, well into adulthood, who loved Scripture and serving others, she was exposed to the devout Catholic faith of her friends in Italy after her husband’s death from tuberculosis. She was especially touched by Italian Catholics’ devotion to the Eucharist and to Mary.

After her conversion, Elizabeth spent the rest of her short life dedicated to Catholic education. She established a congregation of sisters in Maryland called the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the first congregation of religious sisters to be founded in the United States. The sisters taught girls, especially poor girls who could not afford an education. The free school established by the Daughters of Charity of St. VIncent de Paul is considered to be the beginning of parochial education in the United States.

Besides her husband, St. Elizabeth also lost two of her five children during her lifetime. She died at age 46 and was canonized in 1975 by Pope Paul VI. She is the first U.S. citizen to have been made a saint.

The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul gather each year on her “heavenly birthday” feast day of Jan. 4 at the National Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she is buried.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is the patron saint of Catholic schools, widows, the loss of parents, the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, and the state of Maryland. Our own archdiocese has a school in Kenner named in her honor.